High School Never Ends
by melancholyofm
Summary: Percy's got one last chance before he's kicked out for good, and Annabeth is determined to keep him out of trouble. Frank may not be as friendzoned as he thinks- though it'll take more than a few awkward conversations to clear that up- and Leo's attempts at playing cupid for Piper and Blondie may or may not have disastrous consequences. (au)
1. Chapter 1

Piper never really considered home matches as "stalking." More like creative observation. It wasn't like she actually had an excuse to get out often, what with not actually being on a sports team- Drew had made sure of that, so these days the football stands were like a third home for her.

"Hey, is that him?" Leo asked loudly, waving a hand before Piper's face. "Ooh, even I'd tap that..." He followed her gaze down to where the object of her affections was jogging the last warm-up lap.

"Leo," Piper said absently, eyes glued to the pitch. "Shut up." Her face wasn't even heating up- they'd done this so many times, and on every occasion Piper forced herself to believe in some new, more absurd excuse- the best ones were currently needing models for anatomy art practice, or that her buddy Mitch needed her to help him with training, and this was her way of learning the rules. Or something.

She pulled her sleeves further over her hands, half tempted to pull up the hood and dissappear as the Olympia Gates cheer squad bounced onto the pitch: an unhealthily identical assortment of stick-thin blonde barbies, led by the only (because, Piper assumed, she'd completely disembowel the others if they DARED to "scrape her colour") brunette. Skirts shorter than their attention spans- and, as Leo once said, in an attempt to cheer her up, "IQs smaller than their chests. Because anyone could tell those are pushups." Piper knew he was only kidding- it was widely known that, despite his many claims, Leo was about as educated in that department as a fifth-grader.

"Cheerleaders!" Leo grinned, punching the air. Several people glanced at him in distaste, but they didn't really care. This wasn't a terribly important game- unlike them, most of the other spectators weren't there by choice. "Forget about the others. Imma get me some of that candy-"

"Girl or literal?"

Piper shoved some notes in his hand as Leo leapt up, yelling along with the crowd as the home team scored their first touchdown. "Just a soda." He nodded, already in conversation with one of their female classmates. She'd reject him in a heartbeat, but that didn't stop Leo from trying. Piper only wished she could be more like him. Especially when it came to Jason.

Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω

"Detention, Percy?" Annabeth's tone was unimpressed as she leant against the wall, hugging several textbooks to herself. "Again?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Percy grumbled, pecking her on the cheek and grabbing half the books. The corridor was practically deserted now, aside from the few detention escapees and an irritated-looking janitor. "Stupid Latin teacher..apparently _podex _isn't an appropriate adjective to describe what's-his-face..." Percy's face was all adorably scrunched up in disbelief, and Annabeth had to mentally restrain herself from kissing him right there and then. _There was a teacher_ _behind that door, _she told herself, and instead turned slightly away. "Not my problem he doesn't appreciate humour." Percy scowled.

"Eight detentions," Annabeth reminded him, forcing a serious face despite the small smile that played at the corner of her mouth. "Shouldn't you be, like, suspended by now or something?"

Percy's face fell, and Annabeth felt awful. It wasn't _really_ his fault...was it?

"Uh, yeah," he began uncertainly, "About that.." and suddenly their homeroom teacher was right in their faces, despite being wheelchair-bound and shorter than the average gnome.

"Mr Brunner!" Annabeth exclaimed. Percy attempted to slide behind her, to hide in the shadows, but her free hand gripped his wrist firmly. Annabeth hoped he'd get the message- it was better to get it over with, surely it couldn't be that bad. If he handled it well there would be a kiss at the end of the tunnel-the usual.

"Sir," Percy said uncertainly. "I didn't mean what I said earlier, if that's what it's about- I'm sorry-"

"I'd like to talk to Mr Jackson alone, please," Mr Brunner told Annabeth, and she obediently stepped away from Percy, whose eyes were silently pleading: don't leave me. She couldn't fight all his battles with authority for him. There would be times where she wasn't there, and he needed to learn to face the consequences himself. Also there was that important English assignment she needed to get done, followed by a movie later tonight that her roommate had managed to snag tickets to, and Annabeth was itching to shower and get ready.

"I'll see you around?"

Percy nodded weakly. "Bye."

Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω

Thalia linked hands with Bianca, who linked with Phoebe, who linked with their ringleader, Artemis. The room was dimly lit and stinking of expensive perfume- as much as Artemis like pretending she was a hardcore feminist, that didn't stop her from neglecting such womanly duties as makeup and fashion magazines. In fact, Thalia was currently eyeing the Abercrombie advertisement in the Vogue that was sticking out from under Bianca's conveniently-placed butt. The shirtless guy showing off his abs closely resembled Luke- not that she'd seen him with his shirt off on numeral occasions or anything- and that made her sad.

"Right," Artemis spoke softly, with a tinkling voice that seemed to assert authority and simultaneously lull people to sleep. Bianca and Phoebe were nodding along, eyes half-closed, and Thalia felt herself losing grip of reality. There was trance-like music playing in the background- Artemis was convinced it added some much-needed "atmosphere", since what they were about to do was pretty darn life-changing. "We're all here for one reason, and one reason only." She glanced around, silver eyes eventually settling on Thalia, almost accusingly, like she'd read her wistful memories. "And do you remember this reason?"

Thalia nodded, trying to choke down the lump of guilt that had lodged itself in her throat. "Boys suck."

"Amen, sister!" Bianca grinned, and Phoebe nodded appreciatively. "I hereby swear on the-" they glanced at Artemis for approval, and she mouthed the word "-_constellations_ to give up boys. Because they're heartless users, and basically useless." Artemis pursed her lips. "Glad you think so. Now, for the next part-" Thalia watched her curiously; according to Phoebe, who'd been a part of Artemis' eccentric rituals before, they sometimes even ended up performing voodoo. Whatever that was. But on this occasion Artemis broke into a smile and broke out a bottle and cranked up the music to something punk and loud and girl-power-y.

"Now," she declared, "We drink."

Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω


	2. Chapter 2

Frank wasn't sure why he was suddenly fighting down the urge to kiss his best friend.

It wasn't like she'd done anything to imply things, or even begun to throw herself at other guys- no, this time, the problem was all in his head. Like, take for example, drama class. They were doing Shakespear- Romeo and Juliet, to be precise. Hazel wasn't even playing Juliet, for crying out loud! And Frank Zhang was hardly Romeo.

Gwen's words sounded like gibberish as she recited Mercutio's near-endless monologue, and Jason's toneless projections as Romeo were making Frank ready to strangle the guy. Hazel was offstage, though, so his flaming face or rapidly increasing sweat patches from nervousness weren't bothering him- yet. She found them funny, if the giggles were anything to go by. Hazel didn't judge by appearance- "It's personality that matters, dummy," she'd once said, "But don't worry. You make the cut."- and these days Frank was starting to believe that she really was the only one who thought that.

"HERE COMES THE FIERY TYBALT BACK AGAIN," Jason hissed, jabbing Frank sharply in the ribs- or, rather, the flab that now permanently resided where his ribs should be. He'd been so preoccupied with thinking about Hazel he hadn't said the line- the line that she needed to hear so she'd come onstage. So he could see her.

_Damn._ He'd messed up.

_"_Oh no," Frank added for good measure. The audience was twittering: even more ways for them to pick on him later. Hazel shot Frank a sympathetic sideways glance and launched into Tybalt's iconic death scene- only the audience could tell that she was far too mellow to pull off someone that deranged, and Frank was gritting his teeth staring at his sneakers trying to die.

"Hey," Hazel said softly, catching his arm as everyone filed out of the theatre. "That wasn't so bad?"

More than one person had sniggered and called out things along the lines of "_Wherefore art thou Hazel?_" and "_She is the Tybalt, and Benvolio is the gay._" Frank's desires for the ground to swallow him up had not been fulfilled.

"Yes, it was." He purposefully avoided eye contact, blinking furiously and striding ahead. She'd seen him cry before, but something made him move faster, trying to shield his stupid weakness from her. Hazel had to run to keep up.

"Just-" Hazel trailed off, knowing it was pointless to tell him to ignore them. It wouldn't help at all. Instead she yanked harder on his arm. "C'mon. Coffee, cafeteria, my treat."

The thing about Hazel was that once she got someone to open up to her, there was no stopping them. She was the kind of person who'd listen to the complaints of nagging old ladies and agree with every word if it would make them feel better, or tolerate the whining of hormonal teenage girls going on about their ridiculous first world boy problems. Frank knew she'd saved a weasel once- it'd been run over, or something, and she'd taken it home to nurse it back to health only to have it spew noxious waste gases in her face in return. And she hadn't complained once.

"So, my dear Frankenstein," Hazel leant back into the fluorescent yellow chair, pushing it back against the wall. "What seems to be the problem?"

_You_, Frank wanted to say. But instead he stared down into his drink and mumbled, "Nothing. The usual."

Hazel raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "Which is why you've been acting like a total zombie all afternoon?"

"As opposed to what, exactly?" Frank snapped. "I'm always a klutz." Then he mentally kicked himself. No screaming at Hazel. She hadn't done anything to deserve that sort of behavior. "I'm sorry. It's just-" Hazel was watching him intently, and Frank wondered if she could somehow sense the internal struggle he was having with himself.

"You like someone, don't you?" she asked, jumping to the first possible conclusion. It wasn't a confrontation- more like she was genuinely interested. "That's why-"

"NO!" Frank yelped. His coffee flew everywhere. Hazel scraped her chair back to avoid the dripping wet mess. "I mean, I don't _dislike _anyone, if that's what you're wondering, but.."

"Franky-boy's in love!" Hazel cheered. Frank couldn't meet her gaze. The word _no_ refused to surface. "Who's the lucky girl?"

_She's looking right at me,_ Frank wanted to scream. _It's you, stupid. _Stupid, oblivious Hazel.

"Er," he said instead, and busied himself with mopping up the spillage. It provided a welcome distraction, but apparently Hazel couldn't care less that it was leaking onto her jeans and instead leant her elbows on the table, eyes wide in all her eagerness. "Spill!" she demanded, and any hopes of Frank ever confessing shattered then and there. He just couldn't tell her. Not when she knew him as the "cute baby sumo wrestler" and mopped up his tears when he cried. Hazel would laugh, he knew that. Or in the very least sadly look away and say "I like someone else."

"Nobody." Frank told her. "It's just a headache, forget it."

Ω

"Kay," Rachel sang, plunking herself down in front of the camera. It had taken awhile to adjust the tripod- thanks to a bunch of stupid pranksters using it as a catapolt a couple of days back- but now it was as good as new- if you ignored the duct tape. The red light flashed repeatedly. It was recording.

"My name's Rachel Elizabeth Dare," she said, holding up her head high, not caring that anyone could burst in at any moment. "And this will possibly be my Film Studies Project-" Rachel fluffed out her hair, "-assuming I get it done in time, but _definitely _how I get Percy Jackson!"

Annabeth's smirking face flashed in her mind and Rachel's smile faltered. She'd won the battle, yes. But Rachel was going to win the war. And this was how.

"Part One, Stage One," she went on, shuffling papers. "It's slightly complex, in the way of acquiring another masculine specimen which shall then be used to target the emotional system of Perseus Jackson." Rachel winked at the camera. "To put it into simpler terms for all you dumbasses out there: I'm going to make him jealous."

Ω

"..And that, ladies and gentlemen," Jason took a shaky breath, and Reyna nodded encouragingly- "is why the school's sport teams _deserve _more funding."

"We've covered the areas of creativity and physical stimulus for students," Reyna added, smiling coolly at the board of governors sat unimpressed before them. "Our teams are top in the league tables. In the country, even. The school's renowned for athletic and pitch successes, but members are being discouraged by the conditions-"

"-like really gross changing rooms," Jason put in helpfully. "I mean, we believe that they'll perform better if we refurbish them. And have more training sessions. Er.."

"Thank you." Reyna finished smoothly, and ended the presentation by snapping her leather filofax shut. Jason could see a tendon pulsing in her neck, just right of where her braid lay. He himself was trying not to shake- of all the Class President events, this was by far the most stressful. Public speech was fine by him, and Reyna made for a great partner in debates, but these days it added more and more unneccessary pressure, in his opinion, to Jason's already complicated life.

"Well done," Reyna told him. The moment they were out of view from the office she cracked a rare grin, but as quickly as it happened it vanished- she'd missed his near fall and now Jason was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. "You okay there?"

"Peachy." Jason's voice sounded hoarse. He wondered if it had been that scratchy throuought the meeting- if yes, then they'd probably assume he was a smoker and kick him out. He tossed the thought aside.

Reyna dropped the binders and tentatively placed a hand on Jason's arm. "You don't look it...maybe it's the flu?" She eyed him in concern, and Jason blanched. There wasn't need for her to be concerned, right? She felt his forehead. It was clammy.

"Take it easy, okay?" Reyna patted his head lightly, then pulled her hand back like she'd made contact with acid.  
Jason's head was pounding. The corridor suddenly seemed ten times longer; Reyna looked like a badly-developed photograph. "Y-yeah. Thanks. I'm fine, really."

She must've believd him because Reyna made some excuse about dashing to the library, and Jason took this moment to weakly slide down against the wall, struggling to loosten his tie. Whatever the hell was happening, he couldn't afford to miss this afternoon's match.

Ω


	3. Chapter 3

Percy's morning had been sufficiently dampened by the swimming tryouts.

Pun not intended.

Saturdays were for sleeping in and procrastinating on homework or out with his girlfriend, not killing himself trying to beat the clock against a bunch of other guys.

"But that's great!" Annabeth exclaimed, leaning over to pluck a bagel from the cafe's stand. "Honestly, I was really worried.."

"Yay for me," Percy muttered. He stank of unenthusiasm. "But seriously..."

Once they paid, Annabeth yanked him into a window booth. Early risers were lazing about outside, flirting, studying, napping. Percy shook his head again and droplets of water splattered everywhere- including Annabeth's face, but she'd known him for so long that wearing waterproof makeup had become somewhat routine. There was a textbook propped open in her lap but Annabeth didn't seem to care. Today she was all business. Business, and a mischievous grin. Percy's brain couldn't help but send out a universal warning signal. An Annabeth that wasn't scolding him about something?

"So, I was wondering," she began coyly, only playing with the bagel. "You've met Jason Grace, right?"

Percy stiffened, wary. "Footballer? New Rome Academy? "

Annabeth nodded.

"I've heard of the guy." What on earth had possibly brought this on? Annabeth never cared about other guys. Not even when that hot- _reasonably attractive, _Percy had to correct himself on grounds of heterosexuality- senior, blond McSmarmyPants had tried to hit on her. Annabeth had just snorted and stalked off, but what if she'd begun to regret that decision? Panic welled up inside Percy.

She was sick of his constant mucking about at school, he knew that much. Annabeth wasn't into troublemakers. What if Percy was just no longer good enough? What if he was below her standards? Crushing her street cred, so to speak. Percy blanched._ What if she had another boyfriend on the side?_

_"_Hey, you listening?" Annabeth snapped two blue-sparkle-polished fingers in front of his face.

_"_Pleasedon'tleaveme!" he exclaimed. "I love you! You can't just dump me for Jason Grace-"

"Percy."

"I'm serious. What has he got that I haven't?! Okay, besides a GPA of like, a billion. And blond hair. But with your facial structure our kids would look better with my hair-"

"Percy!"

He stopped, flushing. What he'd just said took a moment to come back to him. He covered his mouth, his eyes, buried his face in his hands. "I've blown it, haven't I?"

"Percy.." Annabeth repeated gently. A sea of concerned- and slightly amused- faces surrounded them. "All I asked was if I could have some of that muffin. You know, in exchange for some bagel."

Percy's face was the colour of ketchup. "But you- quarterback- not good enough-"

Annabeth laughed, taking his hand. "I was asking for Piper!" She narrowed her eyes. "You really believed I'd cheat on you?"

"No way." Now that she'd said it herself, the freakout seemed unneccesary. Percy feigned interest in their breakfast."Gods, I'm so sorry..."

A hint of a smile played accross Annabeth's lips. "'Our kids would look better with my hair'?" she asked, one eyebrow slighly raised. She was finding this funny. Percy wanted to die. "I just- Spur of the moment. Didn't mean to-" Even formulating even the simplest sentence was impossible. "Look, sorry. Forget I said anything- I'm such an idiot- Awkward situations-"

Annabeth gave a chuckle. "Your brain really is full of chlorine."

Eager to turn the subject away from their future children- _what the hell had he been thinking?-_ Percy downed half his drink. If there was anything he knew a girl would much rather talk about aside from her own love life, it would be her friend's. "Piper's hot for Jason, huh?"

"Honey, _smitten _doesn't even _begin_ to cover it."

Ω

Piper's morning would have sucked less if she'd actually gotten some sleep.

Annabeth dashed out of the room at eight-thirty, whispering a hasty "Sorry for waking you," though the look on her face suggested she was thinking of anything but. Piper didn't blame her- when you had a boyfriend to wake up to, like Annabeth, mornings wouldn't seem so bad. However, Piper had not yet managed to ensnare a member of the opposite gender- and as much as she wanted to, business would have to wait. She tugged a pillow over her head and tried to fall back asleep. She reckoned she could at least snag three more hours- the jog could wait, as naps were a priority...

"Yoo-hoo!"

...or not.

"Pipes!"

No answer. Piper fumbled for another pillow to block out the noise. Her roommate's would have to do. _Go away. I'm tired._ She didn't add that the reason she'd been unable to fall back asleep was a nightmare- she was kissing Jason- rather enthusiastically, she recalled- who stopped, shrugged and proclaimed his undying love for Gwen Stefani. It was the epitome of lame. Leo didn't seem to get the hint.

"Hey, Plumbing! Open the door!"

She wished he'd stop yelling- the buildings weren't soundproofed, and if he woke up Drew Tanaka, there'd be hell to pay.

"Ugh," Piper grumbled, forcing her bare feet out of bed. "Coming. Shut _up_." She wasn't bothered by the fact that Leo would see her somewhat underdressed- she slept in an oversized sports jersey and shorts, both of which he'd seen before. Hell, somedays she turned up to class in her pyjamas. Contrary to public opinion, onesies were cool. As long as it wasn't Jason at the door, Piper would be fine. She glowered at Leo as he pranced in, too energetic for someone up that early on a weekend. "I hate you, you know that?"

"Brush your teeth," he responded cheerily. Piper raised a warning pillow-pet (Annabeth's, probably, although she didn't seem like the type to sleep with teddies.) "Why's there a German dictionary on your floor?"

"Roommate."

She rubbed sleep out of her eyes as Leo plunked down onto Annabeth's perfectly-made bed, wincing as he unwrapped not one, but two crumbly chocolate-chip cookies. "Breakfast, milady," Leo declared. "We have matters to attend to." When Piper gave no indication that she'd heard him, Leo added, "Now."

Piper scrambled back into her own bed, pulling the duvet around her. "This better be worth it," she grumbled. Leo shrugged, mouth full of chocolate. "I've been thinking," he said, drawing it out until the tension was oh-so-hard to bear. Piper wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of hearing her quip "Was it hard?" Instead, she jerked her head to the side. Totally listening. "Go on."

"There's a game on today," Leo informed her, glancing round the room with a demonic grin on his face- much to Piper's terror. This look only meant one thing: trouble. And Piper wasn't in the mood to deal with this so early without caffeine. "So?"

Leo waggled a finger at her. "Wrong attitude, missy." He broke a piece off the second cookie, already having forgotten his offering to Piper. Piper massaged her temples.

"See, _Jason's_ going to be there."

She sat up. This reaction wasn't desperate or anything._ Pfft. _Leo flashed her a chocolate-stained grin. He knew how much leverage this information had over her. "One o'clock," he sing-songed. "You know how much you want to!"

"Gnhgh." She needed to get ready. Or at the very least find a clean top.

Leo averted his innocent eyes as Piper delved into her underwear draw, swearing when the only things not in the laundry were a size too small. "Yeesh, woman!" Leo yelped. "I'm underage!" Piper graciously ignored him, wrinkling her nose as she spotted a sweaty sock under her bed that didn't look like it belonged to her _or_ Annabeth. Wonderful.

"Is Drew..?" Piper pushed the question aside. _Obviously. _That girl stuck to Jason's side like a scantily-dressed limpit.

"Fun fact," Leo said, when Piper re-emerged from the bathroom down the hall, shirt stained with toothpaste and jeans a mess of creases- "Guys actually _like_ it when girls look like girls. _Just saying_," he added mildly, looking down as Piper brandished a sharpened eyeliner. Piper's desire to kill him had risen dangerously close to boiling point in the space of fifteen minutes.

Refusing the urge to slam the door in his face- last time she'd tried, Drew had screamed the floor down- Piper tried to evict her friend as 'nicely' as possible. "See you at three!" she waved cheerily, making a silent promise never to let Leo and food near Annabeth's belongings again.

"One!"

"Whatever!"

But just in case, she scribbled a quick reminder onto the back of her hand.

Ω

"I really, really don't think this is a good idea," Travis whispered to his brother, who clutched his chest in mock-horror. The two slipped into a janitor's closet to assess their options.

"Brother dearest! What's wrong?" Connor paused to snicker. "Art thou a sissy?"

"Bugger off," Travis shot back. He shook the washing-up liquid before uncapping the bottle. "Shakespeare's never going to be cool."

Connor raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Says the guy. Don't act like I haven't seen you sucking up to Ms de Meter in English-" Travis made a strangled sort of noise- "Anyway, do you have the bucket?"

"I do not!" he protested. In response to his brother's strange look, he added, "Kiss butt, I mean."

"Sure you'd _like_ to kiss her butt," Connor said, hunched over with a mop under his armpit. "Good, very good." He cackled, and Travis had to kick him in order to shut up. "Someone'll hear us!"

"Since when have you ever- Oh." Connor's eyes widened. He pulled himself up, dislodging about eighteen different bleaches and disinfectants. _"Oh."_

_"No," _Travis said quickly. "Not that. Not like that at all."

_I do not,_ his brain insisted sternly,_ have a crush on Katie Gardner._ And why would he? She was a school-renowned snob. A reserve for the cheerleading team, and more stuck-up than Annabeth Chase (and that girl was plenty stuck up, Travis reckoned.)

"Irrelevant!" he yelped. God, the voice in his head was annoying. It may have been something to do with all those Red Bulls consumed last night. Connor snickered.

"You like someone, don't you?"

Travis finished pouring in the green stuff and looked around pointedly for the next ingredient. Easier to avoid the question than answer it, that was his motto. "Pass the-"

"Travis fancies Brunner!"

"I hate you." He scanned the shelves. It was too dark to discern the individual labels, but judging by the smell, 'general soapiness' was in the pink bottle. Of course it would be. _Katie's favourite colour is pink, _Travis thought wistfully, then froze. _Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad-_

"You what?" Connor was grinning- an expression that was equal parts endearing and abso-freaking-lutely terrifying.

_He hadn't said that out loud, had he?_

"...panther in pink!" Travis improvised. "Yeah, panthers. Tracksuits. Tight tracksuits. There was, um, a girl with pink yoga pa-"

"Nice try," Connor cut him off. He studied his partner-in-crime solemnly for a couple of seconds. "Katie, huh? I never pegged you to be-"

"-Gross, man. I was thinking about the other one-"

Much to Travis' relief, at that moment the door swung open and Valdez burst in. Connor's attention was instantly diverted.

"Flame-o!" he cheered. "Where the hell have you been?"

Leo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "What can I say, boys? Lady troubles."

Connor clapped his hands together- another disregard for the fact that this was in fact a TOP SECRET OPERATION and that excess noise would GET THEM KILLED. "Let's prank the hell out of these losers!" he declared. Leo whisper-yelled in agreement, and Travis hoped the slight colouring of his cheeks had faded. "Yeah! Totally."

He lowered his voice. "Just make sure I'm nowhere in the vicinity when Bubbleus is go." Connor's mouth twitched as he eyed his brother. "She'll flip out and murder me, that's definite."


End file.
